United States

Published on Saturday 4 July 2009 19:54

OFFICIALS in Texas are investigating the torching of 30 palm trees in the past two months.

"What we've got on our hands, a serial tree arsonist, I've never seen before," said Galveston Fire Marshal Gilbert Robinson. "I've talked to colleagues of mine, and that's the first they've heard of setting palm trees on fire."

Robinson said the calls reporting burning trees have recently increased in frequency.

Tree service company owner Greg West is offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to charges.

"We just got hit by a hurricane, and the only thing that lived were the palm trees," West told The Galveston County Daily News. "I want to put the reward out, so it might change somebody's mind to turn them in."

The trees that weren't consumed by flames will live, but it could take years for the burned trunks to heal, West said.

A 40-year-old man carrying a petrol can with only a residual amount of petrol was arrested early Tuesday after he ran from police, Robinson said.